


Love, They Say

by kaibasetos



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Drabble Collection, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 23:33:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 12,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3466097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaibasetos/pseuds/kaibasetos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of short Jounouchi/Kaiba drabbles and mini-fics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cosmos

**Author's Note:**

> As the summary says, this is just a place to dump some of the shorter bite-sized pieces of fiction that I write for this ship. I'll be updating it as I write more, and changing the rating as needed as well. Most of these will be pulled straight from my social media and they will likely be preceded by a prompt, a request, or something similar that I was sent. If you'd like me to write a particular drabble/mini-fic/etc, [Twitter](http://twitter.com/scouteccentric) is the best way to reach me, so feel free to drop me a line! I may not always be in a position to write right away, but I definitely welcome all prompts and requests and I try to get to them as quickly as I can.
> 
> The prompt for this chapter was: Things you said under the stars and in the grass.

“I don’t understand the point of this,” Kaiba is saying. They’re sitting in the lush green grass of a field far from the city that Jounouchi has driven them to, their only company the soft music of various insects floating through the still air. Jounouchi is looking up at the wide, clear sky with eyes so fascinated one might think he’d never even seen the stars before. **  
**

Kaiba tries not to let his gaze linger on Jounouchi’s face for too long.

“There isn’t a point,” Jounouchi half-laughs. “Does everything have to have a purpose to you?”

“Yes,” Kaiba replies slowly, drawing out every letter as though the answer is glaringly obvious.

“Well, how’s this for a purpose then, if ya gotta be that way.” Jounouchi moves to rest his hand over Kaiba’s without taking his eyes off the sky. The breeze is warm, but Kaiba still feels a chill race up his spine. “We’re together, and you could see Jupiter right now if you actually bothered to look up.”

Kaiba does look up, at that, and after a moment of searching he can see the planet shining brighter than any of the stars littering the night. A fitting comparison, he thinks, for Jounouchi.

“I don’t think us being together necessarily constitutes a  _purpose_ ,” Kaiba counters a little too late, and he hears Jounouchi start laughing again, but he doesn’t dare look over at him. He doesn’t trust himself, not with the moonlight illuminating Jounouchi in such a way. He looks as though he was birthed from the cosmos itself tonight.

“You can keep actin’ critical about it all you want,” Jounouchi teases him, “but I think it’s pretty damn important.”

Kaiba can’t remember the last time he actually stopped to look up at the sky, to appreciate their vast universe even for a moment. Such a grand, intricate design, boundless and infinite, and out of all the galaxies and planets and people, he’s here on this earth with Jounouchi.

Maybe that  _is_  pretty damn important after all.


	2. Haunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “No one tells you enough, how strong you are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for this chapter was: Things you said when you thought I was asleep. Enjoy!

The bedroom is so quiet it feels like you could hear a pin drop from a mile away. It’s an easy, tranquil, three in the morning sort of silence. Kaiba’s breathing is deep and slow, his chest rising and falling in a peaceful rhythm as Jounouchi observes him drowsily, and he has to assume Kaiba has long since fallen asleep.

It’s the first night in so long that he hasn’t bolted upright in the midst of a night terror or following a dreadful nightmare. Jounouchi feels a pang of both melancholy and relief at the thought. He doesn’t need to know what Kaiba dreams of — the vague indication is haunting enough.

That, and the fear in his eyes. Every time.

He lays his hand on Kaiba’s chest to feel his steady heartbeat. He’s only half-awake, barely aware of himself. He’s just talking into dead space when he mumbles out the words. “I really don’t know how you manage it, Kaiba. Carryin’ the weight of the world on your shoulders the way you do. It must be so exhausting.”

He exhales, his fingers curling into Kaiba’s shirt as his eyes slip closed. “No one tells you enough, how strong you are.”

He’s already fast asleep again when Kaiba grabs his hand, trying to swallow past the lump in his throat.

He doesn’t ever tell Jounouchi what he heard.

He doesn’t ever tell Jounouchi about the way he started to tremble afterwards.


	3. Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Not as dumb as ya try to take me for, Kaiba,” Jounouchi reminds him, grinning wider at the little fed-up hmph sound Kaiba makes at that. How many times has Jounouchi heard him do that now? “Pretty sure I know you kissed me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for this chapter was: Things you said after you kissed me. Enjoy!

“I shouldn’t have.” Kaiba doesn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. He throws them up, clenches them at his side, runs them through his hair and then repeats the pattern. Jounouchi is still in the middle of processing the feeling of Kaiba’s mouth on his own. He could almost convince himself that it was all just a hallucination, but the way Kaiba is behaving leaves no doubt that it was real. “I shouldn’t have done that. You have to go.”

“Why?”

Kaiba seems to be jerked out of his frantic reverie by the question, suddenly alarmingly still, staring straight at him. Lord, that look is intimidating. Lord, that look is too goddamn attractive.

“Why shouldn’t I have done that, or why do you have to go?” Kaiba asks cautiously, each word enunciated far too clearly. Jounouchi licks his lips, and he doesn’t miss the way Kaiba glances down to watch him do it. All signs point to him definitely not  _actually_ regretting what he just did, so that’s a win.

“Both,” Jounouchi says, shrugging, and Kaiba takes a deep, shuddering breath.

“I just  _kissed_  you.”

Jounouchi can’t tell if he sounds more taken aback by the fact that he’s done it or the fact that he’s actually voicing those words aloud in that order. Probably a little bit of both, he imagines. He can’t stop himself from grinning. He almost laughs, but he manages to restrain himself.

“Yeah, and?”

“Are you even listening to me?” Kaiba asks incredulously, managing to sound so irritated and so caught off-guard at the same time. Jounouchi doesn’t even have to guess how grueling of a war he’s waging within himself right now; it’s clearly displayed, for once, practically written all over his face in fine script.

He’s so oblivious.

“Not as dumb as ya try to take me for, Kaiba,” Jounouchi reminds him, grinning wider at the little fed-up  _hmph_ sound Kaiba makes at that. How many times has Jounouchi heard him do that now? “Pretty sure I know you kissed me.”

“Then what’s your  _point_?”

Kaiba’s voice has a hard edge to it, but Jounouchi isn’t dissuaded by it. Never has been, in truth.

It sounds a little forced now, anyway. A little panicked.

“My  _point_  is,” Jounouchi stresses it the same way Kaiba had, making sure to hold eye contact as he leans back against the wall, “maybe you should get the fuck over here and kiss me again.”


	4. Unravel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing here looks familiar to him. Nothing here looks like home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for this chapter was: Things you said with too many miles between us. Enjoy!

Kaiba shuts the door of his hotel room behind him with a brisk  _snap_ , standing with his hand on the knob for a moment as he tries to steady his breathing. He’s never been fond of business trips. Too many people. Too many meaningless, half-hearted conversations. Too many forced smiles. Too many days of being pulled in all different directions and not being allowed his allotted amount of peace and quiet. Too much. **  
**

He shrugs off his suit jacket and throws it across the bed, moving to the window to gaze out over the foreign city. Nothing here looks familiar to him. Nothing here looks like home. His shoulders tense so hard it hurts. Pressure seems to push his ribs in.

His hands are quivering when he pulls out his phone, scrolls to Jounouchi’s name in his contact list and hits the call button.

He doesn’t even think about it.

“Jounouchi,” he says as soon as Jounouchi picks up, and he hears chattering on the other end of the line. Yuugi’s voice in particular stands out, though he can’t make out his muffled words. Jounouchi must be out with everyone. “I’m disturbing you.”

“Kaiba? Nah, not at all,” Jounouchi waves him off, his tone sounding just as relaxed as always. Though he moves the phone away from his mouth to do it, Kaiba still hears him excuse himself from the group and relocate somewhere quieter. “What’s up? Somethin’ wrong? You don’t sound right.”

Kaiba is always stricken by his shrewdness. Jounouchi reads him with such ease.

“No, nothing’s wrong. I just--”

Kaiba pauses, watching unfamiliar cars wind their way through unfamiliar roads in the distance. His eyes are tired. He really doesn’t know why he called. It was almost instinctual, habitual, the way a child would instantly grab for their security blanket in the face of the unknown.

Jounouchi waits for him to finish his thought. He’s unfairly patient, when he wants to be.

Kaiba’s answer sticks in his throat.

“I needed to hear your voice,” he manages to choke out, dropping to sit on the edge of the bed and staring down at the floor. It’s achingly honest. He can feel his heart pounding uncomfortably hard, like a caged thing struggling to break free.

“I’ll talk as long as you need me to,” Jounouchi assures him.

He doesn’t have to do that, of course he doesn’t, Kaiba tells him as much — but he does it anyway. And with every word he speaks, Kaiba feels the strain in him start to unravel little by little.

Nothing here looks like home, but damn if Jounouchi doesn’t sound like it.


	5. Wreck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I swear to God, Jounouchi,” Kaiba hisses, glaring over at him, “if you say one more thing about my driving, I’m kicking you out of this car and you can walk to the restaurant yourself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for this chapter was: Things you said while we were driving. Enjoy!

Even from the passenger seat, Jounouchi is the most taxing backseat driver in history. **  
**

He’s commented on supposedly questionable driving decisions Kaiba has made at least nineteen times, by Kaiba’s count. They’ve only even been in the car for about half an hour. His hands have a death grip on the steering wheel.

When he slows to a stop at a traffic light, Jounouchi makes yet another dramatic comment. “Jeez, Kaiba, you’re gonna get us into a wreck drivin’ like—”

“I swear to God, Jounouchi,” Kaiba hisses, glaring over at him, “if you say  _one more thing_ about my driving, I’m kicking you out of this car and you can walk to the restaurant yourself.”

Jounouchi laughs. Kaiba thinks he feels his eye start to twitch.

“You know I’m just fuckin’ with ya, Kaiba,” Jounouchi tries to say through his snickering, but when he catches on that Kaiba isn’t nearly as amused by his antics he at least manages to bring it down to a silent, body-shaking sort of laughter. “Nah, really, it’s not that bad. You can relax.”

“You’re not doing a very good job of aiding me in that,” Kaiba grumbles, and without even looking at him he knows Jounouchi is smiling at him anyway. Jounouchi is just such a goddamn handful sometimes.

He is, at least, blessedly silent for a few minutes… and then Kaiba feels a hand casually come to rest on his thigh.

He inhales sharply and jerks the wheel. The car only barely moves before he rights it again, but Jounouchi doesn’t miss the chance to make one more sly remark.

“See, you really are gonna get us into a wreck.”

Kaiba is too distracted by the feeling of Jounouchi’s hand sliding up his thigh to respond. His skin is on fire. His mouth is suddenly full of aggressive, impassioned want. He stares hard at the road, trying to focus, but their stop at the next traffic light is a little stuttered and uneven.

When he looks over at Jounouchi, they lock eyes.

“I’m going to kill you,” Kaiba growls, but they both know that’s not what he’s  _actually_  saying.

Jounouchi’s face lights up with a positively wicked smirk.

“I think you might wanna pull over first.”


	6. Formal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Goddamnit, Kaiba, someone’s gonna see us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for this chapter was: Things you said with no space between us. Enjoy!

“How dare you,” Kaiba breathes, “come here dressed like this.” **  
**

The talking and laughing of strangers drifts in and out of earshot. They’re at one of Kaiba’s prestigious business dinners — the first one Jounouchi has ever been invited to — and Kaiba has him pressed up against a wall off the main ballroom, just out of sight.

His fingers are wrapped up tight in Jounouchi’s crimson tie. He’s so close Jounouchi can feel Kaiba’s warm breath ghosting against his lips, but Kaiba is holding him back, refusing to let their mouths meet.

“It’s a formal event,” Jounouchi whispers back intently, though he knows exactly why Kaiba is acting this way about it. “Just thought you’d want me dressin’ accordingly.”

In the dim light, he sees Kaiba smirk. His eyes are dark. He looks absolutely devious, sinful. Jounouchi is trying so hard not to touch him.

If he touches him once, he isn’t going to be able to stop.

“Goddamnit, Kaiba, someone’s gonna see us,” Jounouchi whispers again, voice tight and hands balled into fists. Kaiba leans in just enough that their lips barely touch, and Jounouchi shudders with the effort it takes not to just straight up fucking jump him.

“When we get home,” Kaiba murmurs against him, his tone dark and rich and so  _intense_ , “I’m going to make sure the only thing you can remember how to say is my name.”

With that, he’s gone, straightening his own tie as he walks back into the ballroom. In his abrupt absence, Jounouchi sucks in a shaky breath and desperately tries to compose himself.

How the fuck is he supposed to make it through the rest of the night after that?


	7. Sunlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Did you know,” Kaiba says conversationally, finally looking back up at Jounouchi, “that you look obscenely attractive right now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for this chapter was: Things you said when we were the happiest we ever were. Enjoy!

Kaiba is fastening the last few buttons on his shirt when he wanders from his bathroom back into his bedroom. It’s filled to the brim with gorgeous golden dawn sunlight, caressing and warming everything in its path.

That includes Jounouchi, freshly awake and pleasantly comfortable in his bed.

“Good morning,” Jounouchi greets sleepily when he sees him. He’s still laying in a mess on the bed, tangled in the sheets and flopped against the pillows, his hair disheveled and his smile slow and lazy. He looks unfairly good. Kaiba feels sentimentality bloom in his chest. He must’ve seen Jounouchi in his bed like this at least a hundred times now, but somehow it still gets him every time.

The way the sunlight falls into Jounouchi’s hair has to be one of the seven wonders of the world, he’s sure of it. If it isn’t, it should be.

“What makes it such a good one?” Kaiba asks lightly, still in the process of buttoning his shirt.

“I mean, every mornin’ is pretty good when I wake up here.”

Kaiba lets himself smile just a bit at the words, but he still tries not to let Jounouchi see it, focusing instead on finishing his top button and then moving on to tying his tie. He can feel Jounouchi watching him as he does it, and it almost trips him up.

Almost.

“Did you know,” Kaiba says conversationally, finally looking back up at Jounouchi, “that you look  _obscenely_  attractive right now?”

He thinks he can see a flush of pink start to creep into Jounouchi’s cheeks, but he can’t be sure.

“When don’t I?” Jounouchi replies with a laugh, stretching his arms out over his head, and Kaiba shakes his head with an amused little quirk at the corner of his mouth. This boy. This ridiculous, stubborn, vexing, foolish, wonderful boy.  _His_  boy.

Kaiba turns to check himself in a mirror on the wall, straightening his tie and smoothing out a stray wrinkle in his shirt.

He can see Jounouchi’s reflection, still staring at him.

“Are you coming to work with me again today?”

Jounouchi finally sits up in the bed at the question, rubbing his eyes with the backs of his hands and stretching again. Kaiba is so familiar with the way he wakes up now that he could recount it second by second if he needed to. It’s like clockwork.

“To enjoy a few hours of you glarin’ at your computer screen and makin’ angry phone calls?” Jounouchi pauses for dramatic effect, and then he grins. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

It’s tinged with sarcasm, but Kaiba knows he means it anyway.

He means it.

Kaiba feels as bright as the sun.


	8. Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old memories have no place here, in the midst of their rebuilding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Trigger warning for a vague mention of past physical abuse.**
> 
> This chapter wasn't prompted! I just wanted an excuse to write a little bit of scarred, touch-deprived Kaiba. Enjoy!

Kaiba can’t remember how long it’s been since he’s been touched by someone who meant it — meant it, as though their touch probed for answers he could never provide in words — but lord, does Jounouchi  _mean it_.

His hands are everywhere. His fingers tangle up in Kaiba’s hair, trail along the proud curve of his throat, trace patterns in the dip of his spine. Kaiba is hyper aware of every touch: how it makes his skin prickle and gnaw and burn like awakening, how it replaces his blood with sizzling lightning and trembles his bones with reverberations of thunder. Jounouchi’s hands are all over him, and he is a downed electrical wire. He tries not to set anything on fire.

Jounouchi grazes the light scars left by Gozaburo’s switch, and Kaiba hisses and jerks like a wounded thing. He says  _no_  in a voice so stiff it’s painful to speak and painful to hear, but Jounouchi listens: he doesn’t touch there again. Instead, his palms smooth over Kaiba’s shoulders, his chest, the expanse of his ribs. He seeks to soothe but Kaiba feels anything but calm. His body is ocean waves in the wake of Jounouchi’s waxing and waning moon, ebbing and flowing, pulled in and crashing. He gives himself over.

Old memories have no place here, in the midst of their rebuilding.

Jounouchi touches him for an eternity, languid, seeking, and every single second is exquisite hurt. Every single second begs his heart to race, flushes his skin hot red, lays loud want and desperate need on his tongue and somehow expects him not to swallow them whole. He feels so explosive, a short fuse on a mountain of dynamite. He feels so much craving it builds unbidden and unspoken pleas in the back of his throat. He’s engulfed in it. He chokes on it.

Kaiba’s nails drag aching and slow up Jounouchi’s back when Jounouchi’s touch wanders lower. He leaves marks, scores of battle and victory, and against him Jounouchi murmurs his name so reverently it could be the name of a god. He feels holy, divine. Worshipped.

When Kaiba comes undone, Jounouchi’s hands are there to piece him back together. 


	9. Mouth or Fists

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaiba raises an eyebrow, his eyes sparking with amusement and a bit of malice. "Are you threatening me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for this chapter was: Things you said that made me realize I'm falling for you. This prompt was provided by the lovely [baus](http://archiveofourown.org/users/baus). It's probably different from what you were expecting, but I hope I did it justice!
> 
> I actually really liked writing this one and might write a sequel to it or a longer version of it sometime. If not a take on the same prompt from Jounouchi's perspective, since it seems like I pretty heavily favor Kaiba's with these. Whoops. Anyway, enjoy!

"Hey, Kaiba!"

Kaiba turns, textbooks piled in one arm, and only just gets a glimpse of Jounouchi's furious expression before he's slammed up against his locker by his jacket. His books scatter all over the floor and the sound of his back rattling against the metal causes the students milling through the hallways to crane their heads and stare. They move on quickly when Kaiba gives them a positively venomous look.

"Jounouchi," Kaiba faux-greets with disgust as subtle as stab wounds, meeting Jounouchi's eyes sharply. "What do you want?"

Jounouchi seems to be teeming for a fight, shifting his body weight steadily from one side to the other, his hands white-knuckled in Kaiba's uniform, his jaw clenched. He's so close. Too close. "Don't talk for once. Listen." His tone is of scalding rage, nearly contempt. It seethes. "I heard about what you said to Yuugi. You can spit that pretentious loathin' rich boy shit at me all you want, but don't you dare do it to my fuckin' friends. Never again."

Kaiba raises an eyebrow, his eyes sparking with amusement and a bit of malice. "Are you threatening me?"

Jounouchi glares him down hard, slowly removing one hand from his jacket and balling it into a fist. "Let me put this in a way you'll understand. You use your smartass mouth to settle fights," he says dangerously low, mere inches away from Kaiba's face -- his lips. Jounouchi's breath is warm. Kaiba tries to maintain eye contact. "And I use my fists. You got that?"

At that, Kaiba rolls his eyes and scoffs. He wants to bite back too but he carefully reigns himself in from taking the bait, always the picture of self-control. It's not worth it. Still, he can't help but allow his every syllable to drip with heavy sarcasm when he says, "Loud and clear."

Jounouchi fixes him with that dangerous gaze for a moment more, looking as though he's halfway between decking him right there for good measure or perhaps something else, a different yet just as reckless and wild option that Kaiba can't quite figure out. In the end he just releases Kaiba with another shove against the lockers and a final rough warning. "Stay away from my fuckin' friends."

Kaiba watches him walk away, smoothing the folds out of his jacket and shaking his head, then silently stoops down to collect his books.

As he's stacking them he rolls over and over the confrontation in his mind, every gesture and every word. Jounouchi touching him, Jounouchi cursing at him. Jounouchi threatening him. He'd certainly been threatened a number of times before, but never for such a vacuous reason. There was no personal gain there. Just the bravery in Jounouchi's eyes, the protectiveness, the compassionate fury. The heat. Somehow he never thought Jounouchi had it in him, really.

He replays what Jounouchi said, the aggressive and yet somehow vaguely intimate way he acted, Jounouchi looking at him like he was torn between ruining him in one way or a nameless other, their proximity the closest Kaiba had been to anyone in years, and --

He stops thinking when he realizes his heart is racing, every inch of his skin alive and flushed. He glances down to find his hand, brushing the cover of one of his books, shaking.

There are many ways to take this, but Kaiba settles on one thought in particular:

Jounouchi said to stay away from his friends. He never said to stay away from him.


	10. Blood Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I waste every minute of every day arguing with you. Why should tonight be any different?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter wasn't prompted by anything except my sudden burning desire to write some self-indulgent fic about borderline established relationship JouKai watching the lunar eclipse of the supermoon together. So I guess it was mostly just prompted by space doing a thing tonight. Thanks space! I hope everyone enjoys!

“C’mon, we’ll be able to see the whole eclipse better up the hill.”

Kaiba studies Jounouchi’s silhouette in the dim light as he follows him, long stride after long stride. The folds and wrinkles in Jounouchi’s well-loved plaid shirt brand themselves into his memory, as does the way Jounouchi’s sneakers slip against damp grass and almost send him tumbling down the incline. Kaiba has to restrain himself from instinctively reaching out to catch him.

“Are you just bringing me up here so that we can be alone?”

Kaiba’s frank question rings unanswered for a bit too long to be considered, by societal standards of conversation, acceptable. When Jounouchi answers Kaiba can tell, even without seeing his face, that he’s a little nerve-wracked by it. He rubs the back of his neck self-consciously. “Me? Nah, are you kiddin’? I just wanna get a great view, okay?”

“With me. Alone,” Kaiba points out calmly. The chatter of Yuugi, Anzu, Honda, and countless others spread out across the lawn sings through the air in the absence of his voice, reinforcing his point. Jounouchi laughs, but it sounds a little strained.

“Yeah, with you, alone, but if you keep buggin’ me about it I’m gonna kick your ass and enjoy the view by my damn self.”

“As if.”

“This is a  _rare opportunity_  to view a  _natural phenomenon_ ,” Jounouchi says, making obvious effort to choose his words like he’s appealing to Kaiba’s intellectual sensibilities by expanding his vocabulary. It comes out blatantly mocking, but Kaiba thinks he probably intended it to anyway. “And you’re gonna waste it arguin’ with me.”

“I waste every minute of every day arguing with you,” Kaiba counters as they crest the hill, impassively looking the empty area over. “Why should tonight be any different?”

“I’m  _really_  gonna kick your ass, Kaiba. Just sit down.”

Kaiba rolls his eyes before settling next to Jounouchi, cross-legged in the dirt, and they can see everything. Up here the lanterns scattered across the lawn are sparing, and without the further immediate light pollution the stars blaze into a picturesque view. As well as the moon, whittled down to a crescent in the midst of its slow dance with the Earth. It really is beautiful.

“Wow,” Jounouchi says with awe on his breath, his legs splayed out in direct counterpoint to Kaiba’s rigid body language. “It’s almost gone.”

Kaiba nods, his eyes cast skyward. He watches the moon slip away into the darkness by degrees and his thoughts slip with it. He thinks of the exquisite calculations that time and space make on their own terms, the mathematical formula for the universe written unseen in far and fabled constellations. He thinks of the immeasurable distance between planets and galaxies and how small and insignificant the distance between his body and Jounouchi’s body seems in comparison. He thinks of every breath he’s exhaled here, on his planet, and how many of them have taken the form of Jounouchi’s name.

He thinks of how red the moon will look in the aftermath of the shadows, like murder, like flame, like his own heart swollen with too many words he cannot say. Like a portrait of himself, hanging dark and unreachable in the midnight sky surrounded by twinkling starlight.

He doesn’t realize he’s been raking his hand ceaselessly through blades of grass until Jounouchi reaches over and rests his own hand over it, his thumb tracing the pronounced lines of Kaiba’s veins and bringing him crashing back down to Earth. Kaiba’s blood and racing heartbeat roar in his ears.

“You’re thinkin’ too much. I can tell.”

“Define ‘too much’.”

“When you’re just normal thinkin’ you have a don’t-fuck-with-me-I’m-thinkin’ look about you, y’know. When you’re thinkin’ about shit more than one person should ever think about shit you always touch things over and over and over.”

“I do not.”

Kaiba’s voice is full of bewildered apprehension at the very thought that Jounouchi would have picked up on such an innocuous yet incriminating habit. He glances over to find Jounouchi isn’t even looking at him, but he’s got this unfazed, wry smile on his face.

“What were you just doin’ then?”

“Listen--”

“Look. It’s gone.”

Kaiba looks up to find the sky empty, and a chorus of gasps and appreciative  _ooh_ s blows back towards them from further down the lawn. It’s strange, in a way, to see the absence of light where light has always been, but there’s something familiar and comforting about it. It’s just another factor in the formula, after all.

“Okay, yeah, I’ll admit it, I brought us up here to be alone,” Jounouchi says, his fingers wandering idly until they find the place on Kaiba’s wrist where his pulse is jumping. “But you came with me even though you knew what I was doin’, so what does that say about you, huh?”

Kaiba’s mouth goes dry and the silence between them expands, breathing like a living thing. When he finally speaks again, still staring at the wisps of clouds drifting along with nothing to cling to, his voice is careful.

“I suppose it says I’d rather be alone with you than just alone.”


	11. Talk Shit, Get Hit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You have blood on your face. On your clothes.”
> 
> “Do I? Hadn’t noticed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Content warning for mentions of blood and injury.** This chapter was prompted by a conversation I had with my partner Joey, which lead up to me proposing the idea of Jounouchi turning up at Kaiba's place after getting into a fight. As soon as I mentioned it, I knew I had to write it, so here it is! Enjoy!

It is precisely nineteen minutes past midnight when Kaiba opens his door to find Jounouchi on his doorstep, bloody and bruised with a cigarette halfway to his mouth. He slips it behind his ear instead when he sees Kaiba, and the skin on his knuckles is broken. He grins with a split lip that’s still bleeding a bit.

“Hey.”

Kaiba shuts his eyes and rubs them with his index finger and thumb, already feeling the throb of a headache creeping up on him.

“You show up at my house unannounced in the middle of the night looking like this, and all I get is ‘hey’?”

“Says the man who’s still wearing a button-up and tie _in the middle of the night_. Aren’t you gonna let me in?”

“What choice do I have?” Kaiba asks flatly, stepping aside so Jounouchi can enter the mansion and closing the door behind him.

“Good answer,” Jounouchi praises, grazing Kaiba’s hip with his hand as he moves past him and walks towards the kitchen. Kaiba’s breath hitches in his throat. It is wholly, entirely unfair that Jounouchi can show up looking a disaster and still make him feel like this. He is definitely going to have a hell of a headache later.

“Are you going to explain yourself, or am I obligated to assume the worst?” Kaiba follows Jounouchi into the kitchen as he speaks, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe. Jounouchi has already found a white dishcloth with which to wash the blood off of himself. Kaiba glares at him as he does it, trying to calculate exactly how much bleach he’ll need to get those stains out.

“I got into a fight at Otogi’s party and now I’m here. Your place is a shorter drive than mine. Thought you’d probably figure that out on your own.” In the brighter light Kaiba can see a bruise blooming purple across Jounouchi’s cheek and deep red decorating the collar of his shirt. “You sound more like my parent than my fuckin’ boyfriend half the time, by the way.”

Kaiba visibly bristles at the word  _boyfriend_. It still sounds so foreign to him, though he supposes it’s in a decidedly pleasant sort of way.

“Yes, I was perfectly capable of unraveling that particular mystery on my own, thank you,” he says testily. “I don’t think it’s entirely out of line to question the specifics. You have blood on your face. On your clothes.”

“Do I? Hadn’t noticed.” Jounouchi responds with a sort of sarcastic cheer, dropping the washcloth on the counter and turning towards Kaiba, bracing his back against the edge of the sink. There’s still a smear of blood next to his eye and his bruise is looking darker by the minute. “Don’t worry, though. Most of it isn’t mine.”

The ominous throb of Kaiba’s headache worsens.

“Easing my mind has never been one of your strong suits, Jounouchi. What kind of foolish subject sparked your reckless temper this time?”

Jounouchi actually has the gall to smirk at him. “You.”

Kaiba flexes his fingers and clears his throat. “What?”

Jounouchi shrugs a shoulder and winces, almost imperceptibly, at the movement. “Overheard some guy trash talkin’ you, sayin’ some real nasty shit. He started pushin’ me when I got up in his face about it, so we took it outside.” He pauses to flash Kaiba another grin. “Pretty sure I broke his nose.”

Kaiba tries not to let the idea of Jounouchi getting into a fistfight over him present itself as ridiculously attractive. He tries even harder not to let that idea intermingle with the sight of Jounouchi now, bruised and dishevelled and beaming. He fails miserably on both counts. His skin flushes with electric heat and he’s certain the look he’s giving Jounouchi is downright depraved. “You got into a fight over me.”

“Yep.”

“You broke a stranger’s nose over me.”

“Potentially.”

“You could have gotten arrested.”

“ _Could have_ ,” Jounouchi stresses. “Didn’t though.”

Kaiba runs a hand through his hair and takes a deep breath. “You are aware that I couldn’t care less about what other people have to say about me, aren’t you?”

“’Course I am, mister untouchable CEO,” Jounouchi jibes. “But _I_  give a shit about what other people have to say about you, and I’m not gonna let them spread lies about you. You’re not as much of a prick as they try makin’ you out to be.”

That’s almost a compliment. Kaiba thinks, anyway. He narrows his eyes and ignores the way his heart picks up an uncomfortably quick rhythm at the concept of Jounouchi feeling the need to defend him.

“You’re an idiot,” he says dryly.

“Yeah,” Jounouchi laughs, crossing the room. He pauses in the doorway to grab Kaiba’s tie and yank him in for a brief, rough kiss. “ _Your_  idiot, Kaiba. I’m gonna duck out for a minute, could really use this cigarette right about now.”

With a last lingering touch to Kaiba’s waist, Jounouchi leaves. Kaiba tastes blood on his tongue.

His head is fucking killing him. 


	12. All Hallows' Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “First of all, it’s never too early to start plannin’ for Halloween, and second of all, what the fuck?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse for this. This is literally just self-indulgent pre-Halloween boyfriends garbage. But I wrote it anyway, so here it is. Enjoy!

“So what’re you doin’ for Halloween, Kaiba?”

Jounouchi stirs his sugary mess of a drink as he asks the question, observing Kaiba from across the table. He’s nursing his own coffee, black as pitch – seriously, how does he drink that stuff – and reading a book Jounouchi has never heard of by an author whose name would sound clumsy in his mouth. It’s an almost unbearably pretentious picture, but the autumn sunlight falling through the window next to them is casting Kaiba in a lovely warm glow, so Jounouchi really can’t complain.

“First of all, it’s October 5th, Jounouchi. Second of all, I don’t participate in Halloween celebrations.”

Jounouchi inhales so sharply and audibly he sounds like a wounded animal. Kaiba actually glances up from his book for a second, as though to make sure Jounouchi isn’t about to collapse dead in the middle of the coffee shop.

“First of all, it’s never too early to start plannin’ for Halloween, and second of all,  _what the fuck_?”

“Halloween is a childish holiday.”

“This coming from the CEO of a company who makes  _children’s toys_.” Jounouchi sounds borderline hysterical. “Seriously? You’re not gonna dress up or nothin’?”

“I never have. I don’t see a reason to start now.”

“You’re killin’ me, Kaiba. You gotta dress up at least once. You could be a vampire! You could slick your hair back and wear those fake plastic fangs and–”

Kaiba shoots him a glare. “I am absolutely not dressing up as a cheap imitation of a vampire.”

“Okay, great argument, but what about this,” Jounouchi says, bracing his hands against the table and leaning forward like he’s about to make some sort of groundbreaking statement. “What if you  _did_  dress up as a cheap imitation of a vampire.”

“I’m considering this revolutionary contribution to our conversation,” Kaiba says coolly. He takes a long drink of his coffee, sets it back down on the table, and continues with, “I have considered it, and the answer is still a resounding, emphatic  _no_.”

Jounouchi collapses back into his chair with a huff.

“Aw, c’mon. What about a zombie?”

“No.”

“A werewolf?”

“No.”

“The Blue Eyes White Dragon?”

“ _Jounouchi_.”

“We could do a couple’s costume!”

“I am so vehemently opposed to the very concept of a ‘couple’s costume’ that I feel as though my entire body just rebelled in objection.”

“Okay, okay, jeez. No couple’s costumes then.” Jounouchi licks some of the whipped cream from the top of his coffee and Kaiba’s eyes track the movement of his tongue the entire time. He gracefully decides to avoid pointing it out, which, to be honest, should earn him a gold star for being a fucking saint. “Your loss, though. I was going to let you be Sexy Policeman #2.”

Kaiba is giving him that critical and vaguely perturbed look that says he can’t tell if Jounouchi is messing around or if he should genuinely be offended, and Jounouchi can’t help but burst out laughing.

“Damn, don’t look at me like that, it was a joke. Neither of us are gonna be sexy policemen. Now that I think about it though, I should write that down for next year.”

“Please don’t.”

Kaiba’s tone is one of pure suffering. Jounouchi tries, and fails, to disguise more laughter as a loud cough into his arm.

“You are _no fuckin’ fun_ , Kaiba.”

Kaiba rolls his eyes. “And yet here you are. If Halloween is so important to you, what is  _your_ spectacular plan?”

“I’m gonna be a ghost.”

“A ghost,” Kaiba repeats flatly. The unimpressed mockery inherent in his voice does nothing to cover up for the fact that he’s almost smirking, like somewhere in the depths of his condescension he’s actually involuntarily admiring his downright goddamn ridiculous romantic partner.

“Yeah, y’know, like with the sheet and everything. It’s a classic.”

“If you say so.” Kaiba turns to the next page in his book and resumes reading.

Jounouchi snorts and takes a sip of his drink, making a satisfied sound at the concoction of sweet ingredients that almost snuffs the taste of coffee out of existence and settling there for a while. After an extended period of silence, however, he kicks Kaiba under the table and clears his throat. Kaiba looks up at his beaming faux angelic face, sighs for far too long, and places his book down on the table.

“ _Fine_. I will give some thought to the idea of wearing a costume this Halloween.” He holds up a finger to signal that he’s not finished when he senses Jounouchi is about to burst with excitement. “I am not making any promises, and, for the record, I’m only devoting my time to this decision to potentially save you the crippling embarrassment of walking around like that on your own.”

“If you say so,” Jounouchi parrots back at him cheerfully, and Kaiba pinches the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb like he can’t believe what he’s just gotten himself into. He probably can’t, but Jounouchi has a way with him when he’s enthusiastic about something. Like right now.

“You know what you should be? Ryou told me about this thing the other day, it’s called the Slenderman. It’s some kinda Internet creature or somethin’, I don’t fuckin’ know, but  _anyway_ , he’s tall and he wears a suit and he doesn’t have a face, that’s like, practically you already right?”

Jounouchi dissolves into snickering before he’s even done talking like he thinks he’s the most hilarious thing on planet Earth. This time, it’s Kaiba who kicks him under the table, and it is decidedly indelicate.

“Don’t press your luck."


	13. Wires and Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m not the one who designed and built this thing to be complicated as fuck.”
> 
> “It’s functional,” Kaiba counters defensively, and when Jounouchi shoots him another glare he rolls his eyes and settles back into his chair, glowering into the corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for this chapter was: Robot/robot maker AU. This prompt was provided by the lovely [avoidfilledwithcelluloid](http://archiveofourown.org/users/avoidfilledwithcelluloid). I tweaked the roles a bit, so this is actually partially robotic Kaiba/robot technician Jounouchi AU, but all props to him for planting the original idea in my head. (And some props to Tales from the Borderlands for making the concept of a character with a robot arm really awesome to me.)
> 
> This seems like a good time to mention that I'm writing a collection of Jounouchi/Kaiba fanfiction for this year's NaNoWriMo! This drabble is actually one of the first things I've completed for it, so you can probably expect to see a few more of my fics cropping up during November!
> 
> Anyway, now that all of that is out of the way, I hope y'all enjoy this little snippet of an AU!

“This wouldn’t be takin’ so long if you’d quit movin’,” Jounouchi points out when Kaiba impatiently shifts his robotic arm for the ninth time.

“This wouldn’t be taking so long if you knew what you were doing,” Kaiba responds smoothly.

“Really, Kaiba? You’re gonna condescend to the person who’s got half your arm disassembled right now?” Jounouchi glares up at him through messy hair, directing the end of his screwdriver at Kaiba to make his point. Kaiba shifts in his chair like a caged, restless animal.

“I just don’t understand why this has been such a lengthy process. It’s a simple diagnostic issue.”

“Easy for you to say,” Jounouchi mumbles, returning to examining the pieces of Kaiba’s arm spread over the desk. The vibrant white metal, accented with finest blue, shines brilliantly under the light. “I’m not the one who designed and built this thing to be complicated as fuck.”

“It’s functional,” Kaiba counters defensively, and when Jounouchi shoots him another glare he rolls his eyes and settles back into his chair, glowering into the corner.

“Besides, I’m almost done. Just gotta put everything back on and it should be good as new.”

“ _Should_?”

“It’ll be  _fine_ , Kaiba. Relax.” Jounouchi picks up a miniscule screw and carefully uses it to begin fastening a part of Kaiba’s forearm back into place. “You act like I’ve never done this before.”

“I’m aware of exactly how many times you’ve done this. It’s never taken this long.”

Jounouchi huffs, continuing to work in silence. Reluctantly, Kaiba draws his eyes from the corner back to Jounouchi, watching him. His eyes are narrowed in concentration, his hair mussed in the front and pulled into a sloppy ponytail in the back, his actions so delicate and precise you’d think he was working with something a hundred times more fragile than robotics. The lamp on the desk bathes him warmly and Kaiba’s heart jumps uncomfortably in his chest. He curls his human hand into a fist, and, reflexively, his cybernetic hand does the same.

“Stay still,” Jounouchi insists quietly, focused on screwing in a particularly small fragment of metal. Kaiba forces himself to straighten both hands and leans his head against the back of the chair, staring up at the dull cast of blue moonlight on the ceiling. He tries to let it envelop him, tries to ignore the prickling sensation spreading across his skin.

He can’t feel what Jounouchi is doing, but he knows it all too well. There’s something strangely intimate about it and the impact is never lessened by repetition. The special, attentive sort of care Jounouchi takes with him in such a vulnerable position makes everything human in him ache.

“Almost there,” Jounouchi reassures him, and then, a moment later, “Okay, you’re good. You can move now.”

Kaiba exhales a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and straightens up, looking down at his arm. It’s reassembled just so, the white and the blue, the brilliance of his own creation. He rolls his wrist and flexes his fingers, observing with a bit of a thrill the whispering whir of mechanic motion, and almost smiles to himself.

“Now that I am no longer at a blatant disadvantage, can I ask, again, why it took…” Kaiba flicks up the holographic clock projected on his palm and raises an eyebrow. “An  _hour_  for this repair?”

Jounouchi snorts, elbowing him. “No, you can’t. What you  _can_  do is say thank you, asshole.”

Kaiba rests his robotic hand near where Jounouchi’s lays on the desk, still loosely holding the screwdriver. He swears he can feel the wiring in his arm buzz with the proximity of skin and false skin, static electricity crawling all the way up to his shoulder. It’s so much more than flesh and blood.

“I appreciate it.”

Jounouchi wrinkles his nose at that and drops the screwdriver, rising from the desk and stretching. His spine cracks with the movement and his ponytail comes loose a little more, spilling hair down to his shoulders. Kaiba pointedly looks away from him, suddenly very interested in studying the wood grain of the desk rather than the lines and angles of Jounouchi’s body, so artful. A masterpiece.

Jounouchi gives him a knowing look and grins, leaning down to press a kiss to his right temple. If he notices that Kaiba’s eyes widen a bit, he doesn’t show it.

“Any time, you stubborn prick,” Jounouchi teases. but he pauses in the doorway on his way out of the room. “Just don’t fuck it up again or I’ll take twice as long next time.” 


	14. Expensive Taste

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I know how much it is. I’m here every day. Are you new?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[Valentine's Day Fic Bash 2016](http://kaibacorpking.tumblr.com/private/139289273480/tumblr_o2jex0gLDG1uy32l2)]
> 
> This is definitely just an unprompted, totally self-indulgent snippet of your typical coffee shop AU that I wrote during NaNoWriMo. That's... That's really all this is. Regardless, I hope y'all enjoy!

“Hey, what can I get for ya today?”

Jounouchi is too busy adjusting his nametag to look up at his next customer. Whoever they are, they are completely, utterly silent in the midst of coffee shop chatter until Jounouchi looks up. He stops, blinking. Warmth involuntarily spreads across his cheeks.

He’s handsome. Unfairly handsome. Dark hair and eyes like the brightest blue fireworks, wrapped up in a black peacoat with a blue scarf tucked into it. He’s looking down at Jounouchi in a way he can’t quite decode, a way that makes his heartbeat quicken.

“Large coffee. Black.”

He says the words like a curse, almost under his breath. Jounouchi stares at him for a moment before grabbing a cup and checking off the appropriate boxes, then hesitates with his marker pressed to the surface.

“Can I get your name?”

“Kaiba.”

Jounouchi nods and writes his name before setting the cup aside for someone else to pick up and ringing up the price of the coffee, very carefully not looking at Kaiba. He can feel Kaiba staring hard at him and it’s not so much unsettling as it is foreign and electric, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“Right, that’ll be--”

Kaiba hands over a sleek black credit card before he’s even finished talking, his gaze still level but with a hint of what Jounouchi thinks he could classify as mirth. He takes the card, squinting at Kaiba and subconsciously messing up his hair with his free hand. Kaiba snorts.

“I know how much it is. I’m here every day. Are you new?”

He asks the question in a manner that borders on insulting, and Jounouchi wrinkles up his nose.

“Yeah, actually, just started a few days ago. Guess I’ve missed you ‘til now,” Jounouchi explains in his best ‘ _I’m staying professional but you’re toeing the line, sir_ ’ voice. When he hands the card back to Kaiba, their fingers brush and he audibly chokes. So much for that act.

“Expect to see me again,” Kaiba says, pocketing his credit card, and with a little smirk at the corner of his mouth, he’s gone.

Later, Jounouchi drops another customer’s pastry thinking of him.

\---

Sure enough, he sees Kaiba again the next day. He comes in wearing the same coat, which Jounouchi notes smells thickly of rich and expensive cologne, but this time he’s wearing fingerless leather gloves and his blue scarf is swapped for a black one with a white pattern Jounouchi can’t quite make out.

Goddamn, he is attractive. Heart-stoppingly so. He definitely has a bit of an attitude, but Jounouchi can work with that.

“Welcome back, Kaiba,” Jounouchi says as he rings up another black coffee and writes the appropriate information on the cup.

“You’re a fast learner,” Kaiba remarks, and Jounouchi can’t tell if it’s praise or sarcasm but he takes the card he’s offered with a grin anyway.

“Nah, I’ve just got an eye for people I like to see around.”

Jounouchi glances up at Kaiba when he hands the card back to gauge his reaction, but if there is one he certainly can’t make it out. Kaiba keeps his expression calculated and even. He maintains direct eye contact. Jounouchi feels a wave of heat travel from the tips of his fingers to the nape of his neck.

“So,” he says conversationally, ripping the receipt out of the printer and bending over it with his marker. He jots his number down in clumsy, lazy script and then hands the receipt to Kaiba.

Their hands graze each other again, skin against skin and fine leather, and Kaiba seems to pause for just a heartbeat longer than he has to this time, prolonging the contact. It’s only a split second, but it feels like a fucking eternity. Jounouchi's eyes widen a bit.

Kaiba pulls back and studies the receipt with his eyebrow raised. “Your phone number?”

“Uh. Yeah,” Jounouchi says, and he busies himself with tidying up behind the counter. He hadn’t really prepared himself for the possibility of Kaiba seeing it until he’d already left with his coffee. Kaiba is superbly out of his league and he grits his teeth at the thought that he might have, probably, just set himself up for public rejection.

“I appreciate it,” is all that Kaiba says, cool and calm, before leaving the counter to get his coffee.

Jounouchi takes a deep breath and slumps down at his register when he’s gone.

He is in way over his head.

No surprise there.


	15. Our Scars Are Our Strength

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm proud of you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[Valentine's Day Fic Bash 2016](http://kaibacorpking.tumblr.com/private/139289273480/tumblr_o2jex0gLDG1uy32l2)]
> 
> This was just written as an exploration/study of my own scarred Kaiba headcanon, but I ended up really attached to it, so here it is. **Trigger warning for blatant mentions of physical abuse and the scarring/trauma left over from it.** Absolutely tread carefully here if you're sensitive to things of that nature. Otherwise, enjoy!

“Show me,” Jounouchi says gently.

He’s standing in Kaiba’s bedroom, admiring the way the night flatters Kaiba’s silhouette of lines and fine angles. Kaiba’s fingers are at the buttons of his shirt, but his hands are trembling. Soft, like the flutter of butterfly wings, but noticeable enough to make Jounouchi reflexively rub his palms against his jeans. He wants, always wants, to protect Kaiba from all the things that make him shake in the night.

Kaiba doesn’t say a word, and Jounouchi can’t see his face. He unbuttons his shirt slowly, quivering fingers working each button free until fabric falls open his body is exposed. His throat, his chest, his torso, an expanse of land unseen and untravelled. He stiffens when Jounouchi comes closer, his back ramrod straight, and his eyes rest resolutely over Jounouchi’s left shoulder. He stares at something far away. He is far away.

Even in the dim light, Jounouchi can see the scars Kaiba was so afraid of. They climb his body like ivy, curving and arching together to form a masterpiece of modern agony. There is a thin white line around his neck, the most prominent star in the constellation of his suffering. The most obvious, yet the most well-hidden. There are thin white lines over his ribs, his stomach, his hips. Jounouchi can’t see, but he can safely assume that they map his back in the same pattern. Perhaps red and angry there, the way these scars make him feel. These symbols of Gozaburo’s weight and hatred. He is raw and open and tender all at once.

He reaches out and touches one of the scars on Kaiba’s ribs, skimming his fingers along the fragile skin, and Kaiba jerks away and grabs his wrist tight like a vice. He snaps back to earth in one ferocious moment and when he meets Jounouchi’s eyes he meets them sharply, something inhuman and feral lurking in his gaze. After a long moment it softens, he softens, and in place of fear and predatory instinct there is only pain and resignation.

“Don’t touch them.” Kaiba’s voice is choked. Jounouchi feels the dire need to hold him.

“Why not?”

“You are so pure, Jounouchi,” Kaiba says with a tone like admiration, and then, immediately, disgust. “I don’t want you to feel how repulsive they make me.”

Jounouchi hurts, a deep, wounding hurt. He pulls his wrist out of Kaiba’s grip and places his hand over one of the scars on his chest, staring Kaiba directly in the eyes. He waits for a challenge that does not arise. Kaiba doesn’t try to stop him again, though his jaw clenches like he wants to. “Don’t you dare talk that nonsense to me. There’s nothin’ wrong with them. Nothin’ wrong with _you_.”

Kaiba’s body is tense when Jounouchi splays his hand and runs it down, his fingertips catching the raised edges of scars like the skin under his touch is patchwork quilt instead. He stops and strokes his thumb over a scar on Kaiba’s stomach, feels him shake, sees his arm twitch like he wants to grab Jounouchi again. Jounouchi steps closer, into Kaiba’s space, and reaches up to graze the scar on his throat before resting his hand against Kaiba’s cheek.

“I’m proud of you,” is all Jounouchi says, and he leans in to kiss Kaiba. It’s gentle until Kaiba’s hands clench in the back of his shirt and it turns turbulent with emotion and the weak sound of a sob trapped between them that never quite makes the journey from Kaiba’s mouth to his eyes. He wouldn’t cry in front of Jounouchi anyway. Not now.

Kaiba still holds him close for far too long, as though he’s afraid of letting go.

Jounouchi follows the kiss up with another, softer one, then a third, his fingers stroking through Kaiba’s hair and soothing him. When he gets the sense that Kaiba is starting to relax he wraps his other arm around Kaiba’s waist and pulls him in for something like a hug, his mouth moving against Kaiba’s shoulder when he speaks again.

“I’m proud of you,” he repeats. “You’re so strong, Kaiba. These scars are your proof. Sharin’ them with me is your proof. You don’t have to hide from me anymore, okay?”

Kaiba doesn’t say anything but Jounouchi can feel him swallow hard, like he’s struggling to breathe.

And, eventually, he nods.


	16. That's Debatable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, y’know, I was just in the neighborhood--”
> 
> “The entire city practically constitutes in the neighborhood.”
> 
> “Whatever, okay, that’s not the point, king of redirection. Are you comin’ or not?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[Valentine's Day Fic Bash 2016](http://kaibacorpking.tumblr.com/private/139289273480/tumblr_o2jex0gLDG1uy32l2)]
> 
> The prompt for this chapter was: when they lean forward a fraction as if to kiss the other person, then realize they shouldn’t and pull back to stop themselves. So that's exactly what this drabble is based around. Enjoy!

“So, you’re still comin’ to Yuugi’s to do movie night with us, right?”

Kaiba finally pulls his eyes off of the street running parallel to them just to give Jounouchi a sideward glance.

“Did you come all the way to Kaiba Corp and wait outside the building just to ask me a question that you could have just as easily asked me over the phone?”

Jounouchi laughs, and out of the corner of his eye Kaiba can see him run a hand through his messy hair. Kaiba clenches his hand into a fist and digs his nails into his palm, trying to stay focused instead of replaying that simple action in his head until it consumes him.

“Well, y’know, I was just in the neighborhood--”

“The entire city practically constitutes _in the neighborhood_.”

“Whatever, okay, that’s not the point, king of redirection. Are you comin’ or not?”

They’ve been talking and walking for a while. When they finally make it to Kaiba’s car, Kaiba moves towards it and Jounouchi lounges against the driver’s side door with crossed arms, giving Kaiba a look that says _I’m not getting out of the way until you give me a straight answer_. Kaiba slowly meets his eyes.

“Yes, I’m coming,” he says in a voice more steady than he feels.

“Of course you are.” Jounouchi holds his gaze. “ _I'll_ be there, and I’m your favorite person in the whole world.”

Kaiba raises an eyebrow. “Debatable.”

Jounouchi snorts. “Yeah, you keep tellin’ yourself that. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you we’re startin’ around seven, so you better be there on time ‘cause we’ll start without you and then you’ll be wanderin’ in a quarter of the way through the movie lost as hell.”

“I’m always on time,” Kaiba murmurs, but his eyes are on Jounouchi’s lips now. They’re standing a little closer than anticipated. It would be so easy to kiss him. He can feel the warmth of Jounouchi’s skin. He digs his nails harder into his palm.

“Debatable,” Jounouchi shoots back at him with a cocky grin. Fervor claws its way up Kaiba’s bones and makes him hot. He takes a step towards Jounouchi and he can feel the tension between them rising, feel it tighten him like a stone in his throat. He chokes on it. He’s looking down at Jounouchi. At the wrinkles in Jounouchi’s shirt. At the curve of his throat. At his mouth.

They’re so close.

It would be so easy to kiss him.

“Kaiba?”

“I would like to have access to my car,” Kaiba answers too quickly, the rhythm of his words offbeat and twisted. The coals that warm the fire in his eyes are still smoldering. He takes a measured step back and looks away, feeling for the cold, grounding metal of his keys in his pocket.

“Okay,” Jounouchi says, a little uncertainly. He pushes himself off of the door, away from Kaiba, and Kaiba can feel the pressure in his chest slowly start to ease. “You coulda just said somethin’, jeez. Had me worried for a minute there.”

Kaiba unlocks the door and settles into this driver’s seat without a word, sparing one last look at Jounouchi and tightening his grip on the door handle involuntarily when he does. The craving may have settled, but it won’t disappear. He knows that by now.

Judging by the way Jounouchi locks eyes with him again, he knows it too.

“I’ll see you tonight, Jounouchi.”


	17. Brick and Bruising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I said not here, I didn’t say stop.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[Valentine's Day Fic Bash 2016](http://kaibacorpking.tumblr.com/private/139289273480/tumblr_o2jex0gLDG1uy32l2)]
> 
> The prompt for this fic was: a hoarse whisper, "Kiss me, Katsuya." So... Yeah. This happened. Enjoy!

Jounouchi has him cornered, sharp shoulder blades pressed back against the brick wall. They’re right outside the party and the music thumps away in the background, more of an afterthought than a presence out in the cool night air. Kaiba is running his fingers along his tie and giving Jounouchi the look he’s been giving him all evening, dark and warm but only subtly so.

“Why do you keep lookin’ at me like that?”

“Like what?” Kaiba asks, his voice husky and rough around the edges from yelling over the din of the music all night. His smirk says he knows _exactly_ what he’s doing. Jounouchi bites down on his tongue hard to keep himself from touching him. They’re in public. He knows how much Kaiba hates that, but goddamn, this is getting really unfair.

“Like you wanna devour me,” Jounouchi answers, and he bites down on his tongue even harder when Kaiba reaches out to grasp the collar of his shirt, long fingers curling in it. Jounouchi’s skin is burning with the effort it takes not to grab his wrist, grab his hair, grab him. Kaiba leans forward off of the wall so their faces are only inches apart.

“Do you have a problem with it?”

“Nah, I just--”

“Kiss me.”

“What?”

" _Kiss me_ , Katsuya,” Kaiba whispers, his voice hoarse on Jounouchi’s name, and want and need roar through Jounouchi’s chest at the same time that his inhibitions snap clean in half. He pushes Kaiba back against the wall by his shoulders, kissing him hard and bruising, his mouth fire, his forceful hands fire, all of him fire. When Kaiba kisses him back and drags his fingers slowly through Jounouchi’s hair, Jounouchi lets out a low sound of need that Kaiba actually echoes, quieter, silkier. Hearing it makes Jounouchi’s stomach twist. His arms are trembling like hell and Kaiba’s tongue is in his mouth and he shoves his thigh between Kaiba’s legs and presses closer, needing touch, needing more.

Kaiba twists his fingers up in Jounouchi’s hair and yanks his head back to separate them and Jounouchi almost curses, but Kaiba is still giving him that look, his lips slick, his hair mussed, his back to the wall.

“Not here.”

“Listen, you’re the one who--” Jounouchi begins with a tone of irritation, his nails in Kaiba’s shirt, but Kaiba leans in and kisses him again, brief and rough and demanding.

“Don’t start with me. I said not _here_ , I didn’t say _stop_.” Kaiba’s hand untangles from his hair and comes to rest on his neck. “Take me home first,” he murmurs in that soft, raspy tone, and Jounouchi swallows hard.

If he’s ever driven to the manor faster in his life, he certainly can’t remember it.


	18. Sacrosanct

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No form of prayer could ever compare to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[Valentine's Day Fic Bash 2016](http://kaibacorpking.tumblr.com/private/139289273480/tumblr_o2jex0gLDG1uy32l2)]
> 
> This drabble was inspired by [this poem](http://alonesomes.tumblr.com/post/120402288586/i-am-thinking-about-the-crescent-scar-on-the), but otherwise, it didn't really have any prompting or even direction to speak of. It just sort of came spilling out during NaNoWriMo, and the more I reread it the more fond of it I became, so I decided to go ahead and share it here. I hope y'all enjoy!
> 
> This is very mildly, vaguely NSFW, but I'm not sure it's enough to warrant changing the rating on the collection as a whole, so just a heads up!

Kaiba’s love for him is something feral and born of the cemetery night, all rows of jagged teeth and clumps of blood-matted fur. Sometimes Jounouchi’s eyes are lantern lights guiding its way home through the acid darkness and sometimes they are a creature of their own come to face him, kind daylight with its own bone-splintering fangs. Either option leaves Kaiba unable to stop staring at him.

Jounouchi’s hands are rough but they work with such delicacy, touch with such a brutal softness. His body language is lazy and eloquent, the architecture of him abstract yet exquisite. Kaiba finds himself enraptured by the way sunlight catches his hair, the way he gestures when he speaks, the way he snags his ragged nails against stray threads on his clothing, the way he stretches with his spine arched and his arms held out to Heaven as though he isn’t already holy, holy, holy. He’s divine. Kaiba can taste unexplored galaxies in his mouth.

Jounouchi grins at him, so genuine and faithful, and Kaiba feels God’s will flow vibrant through his bloodstream. He has never longed for such warmth and such security, has never found his demons ripping their way out of their ancient graves to claw their way to it. He has always been destructive and tainted, a Bible with dogeared pages and black ink scratches through words, but where Jounouchi kisses him he feels new and loving and strong.

He repents for his sins with his fingers clenched in Jounouchi’s shirt and his lips pressed against Jounouchi’s throat. The way Jounouchi breathes his name sounds like scripture and he makes Jounouchi say it again and again and again until he feels sanctified, revered. The leviathan of his love blinks its nighttime cat-claw eyes against the flood of radiance. It prowls through hallowed ground and feels reborn anew, bathed in the glorious bliss.

No form of prayer could ever compare to this; Jounouchi against him, laughing and loving and wanting for him. This sacrosanct boy revelling in the words that fall from Kaiba’s sacrilegious tongue, craving the sensation of Kaiba’s profane touch lingering on his body. It’s a war of corruption, a collision of empires, and Jounouchi grips Kaiba and pulls him in so close that virtue and transgression become one and the same. They are ritual and they are confession and they are division with such blurred edges that one ends where the other begins.

Kaiba's yearning screams out and he lets it scream through every inch of him, echoing into the staccato rhythm of the breaths he exhales against Jounouchi’s lips. He wonders if Jounouchi can hear it, sometimes, but Jounouchi grasps his hips as though to hold him steady and he knows he does. He knows he never has to vocalize it, the stalking, prickling animal of his adoration, the abandoned midnight screech of his addiction. His thoughts are Jounouchi’s, his pleas for salvation are Jounouchi’s, his body is Jounouchi’s, he is Jounouchi’s.

He needs that, needs Jounouchi so viciously and powerfully that he becomes his own beast, his own God, speaking in tongues against Jounouchi’s shoulder. Jounouchi moans for him and he feels like a church crumbling to its foundation, desecrated yet still sacred right down to its haunted beams. Jounouchi moans for him and the world is ending in rapture, the way it was always promised, the way it was always foretold.

They lie together, Jounouchi’s back pressed against his chest, Kaiba's hand tangled in his, and Kaiba’s eyes are heavy with the moonlight. There is nothing to describe the pattern of Jounouchi’s slow, sleeping breathing except for holy, holy, holy.

They’re divine.


	19. Oh Night Divine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You’re happy. I can tell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No prompt for this chapter! It's Christmas, so I just _had_ to write something seasonally appropriate for them since I missed out on it last year. It's a bit longer than anything I normally include here, but it just felt like this was where it belonged, so this is where it lives now. This is probably the softest JouKai I've ever written and perhaps ever will write, and damn if I didn't have a great time writing it. I know it's a bit early to post it, but I work Christmas Eve, so I hope this bundle of warmth can help keep your spirits up through the coming days. Have fun, and happy holidays to everyone!

It’s been a long night. Between Mokuba getting tangled in the string lights, Shizuka laughing fondly at her brother’s preposterous off-key singing, and Jounouchi somehow nearly strangling both himself and Kaiba with the tinsel in two distinctly separate instances, Kaiba had been convinced they wouldn’t be able to get the tree decorated without something being destroyed. Yet despite his doubt, they’d made it through, and he thinks that alone can be an occasion worth celebrating.

He and Jounouchi are sitting together on one of the ornate couches in the manor’s living room, comfortable with the thick blanket that covers both of them and the fire roaring away in the fireplace. They’ve been nestled in dim light and relaxed silence since Mokuba and Shizuka retired upstairs to sleep. The wind outside is howling with biting cold, and Kaiba is thankful for excusing himself from work for once -- upon Jounouchi’s insistence, of course. He takes a sip of his hot chocolate, just cool enough not to burn his tongue, and looks back at the tree. It’s incredibly tall and stark white, blanketed in shimmering silver tinsel, its blue lights twinkling off of wide foyer windows and marble floors. He supposes they really did make a good team, in the end.

He remembers the adoring way Jounouchi had looked at him as he lifted Mokuba up to place the star on top of the tree, and his breath hitches.

As if on cue, Jounouchi leans closer and nudges Kaiba’s shoulder affectionately with his own, bringing him back to the present. “Hey, Kaiba.”

“Yes?” Kaiba murmurs in composed assent, shifting to place his mug back on the table in front of them. He meets Jounouchi’s eyes as he settles, their shoulders still touching, and tries not to think about this too much; how content he feels being close to Jounouchi right now, how safe and welcoming their proximity is, how this is the first Christmas where he’s been able to feel the manor so vibrant with the laughter of what can only best be described as their new family. How much it means to him.

“Thanks for havin’ us here,” Jounouchi says, his voice hushed and kind. “I had fun. I wasn’t really expectin’ you to want me over on such a _romantic_ evening.”

He places a conspiratorial, borderline teasing lilt on the word “romantic”. Kaiba feels heat flush along his skin and abruptly looks away in favor of watching the fire, clearing his throat. His tone is factual, but not unkind. “I do not believe this particular day is more prominently, as you would phrase it, _romantic_ than any other. We needed the help.”

Jounouchi laughs softly, elbowing Kaiba lightly in the ribs. “You’re so fuckin’ stubborn. You wanted me -- us -- here. You’re happy. I can tell.”

Kaiba bites his tongue. He thinks it over. He’s always enjoyed being with Mokuba on the holidays. After all, his brother has always been very dear to him, long thought to be the only one he could love and trust. This, however, is different; it proved him wrong. This is the first time that he’s ever been able to have company to celebrate with them, the first time that the manor truly felt alive and loud and full and like their _home_. It was pleasant, despite the trouble. Perhaps even because of it. He knows Mokuba felt it too. His heart thrums a melody of a sentimentality he’s rarely felt, and right now, in this moment, it seems foolish to deny himself this.

“I mean, I am too,” Jounouchi is saying. “It’s okay to--”

“Thank you,” Kaiba cuts him off, his gaze on the floor and his words uncharacteristically gentle, “for being here.”

Jounouchi makes a sound Kaiba can’t quite categorize, closest to choking on an inhale. When he glances over, Jounouchi’s eyes are wide and he appears to be blushing. He obviously wasn't expecting such a heartfelt response, and flustered is an endearing look on him, to be sure; it flatters him, but then again, what doesn’t? The corner of Kaiba’s mouth turns up in a smirk.

He resolves he may need to be honest more often.

“Uh, I should stoke the fire,” Jounouchi says a bit too quickly. He pushes off the blanket and walks over to the fireplace, and Kaiba watches him the whole way. Jounouchi seems to calm again once there’s something physical for him to focus on, and God, he really is stunning. The firelight bathes him in an orange glow that paints him the most exquisite picture of compassion and warmth Kaiba has ever had the privilege of viewing in his life. Shadows play across his profile, his strong jawline and the curve of his neck, and Kaiba involuntarily digs his nails into his palm, longing.

Outside, snow begins to fall, casting Domino in a veil of white. Here, nothing touches them but fervor and love.

He’s still staring when Jounouchi returns to sit next to him again, and Jounouchi notices immediately, quirking his eyebrow as he tugs the blanket back over his lap. “What’s up? Somethin’ on your mind?”

Kaiba hesitates for a moment.

Right. Being honest.

Rather than shrug off the question, Kaiba allows himself to give in to temptation. He turns and leans in, reaching out to slowly run the tips of his fingers over Jounouchi’s cheek. He revels in the way Jounouchi immediately tilts his head into the touch, wanting it just as much. It feels so easy with him. It always has. “You could say that,” Kaiba murmurs, sliding his fingers back until he can tangle them in Jounouchi’s hair and pull him closer, their faces inches away from one another.

The fervid crackling of the fire glints in Jounouchi’s eyes, and he grins, clearly delighted. “What’s gotten into you?”

“You,” Kaiba replies with the utmost sincerity, brushing his lips against Jounouchi’s and living for the soft, sharp intake of breath he receives in response. It’s so satisfying to just _say it_ , to be here with him, to love him so intensely it's as though the feeling alone could light up the entire room. His keeps his voice tender and meaning, no louder than a whisper, and he hopes Jounouchi can hear the depth of his admiration. “Merry Christmas, Katsuya.”

When they kiss, Jounouchi’s overwhelming joy is the sweetest thing he’s ever tasted.

He never wants to forget it.


	20. Palingenesis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "In some ways, it was the best year of my life."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back again! I don't want to drag this down with a lengthy opening note, so I'll be talking about where I've been at the end of this chapter where it's easier to skip over. This chapter is longer than anything else here and I definitely could have posted it as a separate work, but for some reason I just felt like it fit here, so here it is. No prompt, just some inspiration from the season and a bit from my prior works as well. This was originally just intended to be some mildly thoughtful short and sweet fluff, much like the previous chapter, but it got a little out of hand. Anyway, I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season! Enjoy!
> 
> (I want to mention that I know kissing at midnight for New Year's is moreso a Western tradition, so I left out any direct mention of it, but there is some potential vague implication. It's really more just an established relationship thing, though.)

The first day of the new year brings with it a chill in the air and a soft white hush that blankets the manor grounds.

Falling flakes of snow are dusted in Kaiba's hair, resting on the heavy fabric of his navy peacoat, settling in the folds of his scarf. When they collect particularly densely on Jounouchi’s old hoodie, he shakes his head and shoulders like a wet dog. This does absolutely nothing to help his cause, and Kaiba is on the brink of saying as much, but he quells the bite and tucks his chin down instead. Perhaps it’s endearing, in a way.

The sun is clouded over, muting the scene in something resembling greyscale. They're walking together up the manor's long drive, Jounouchi holding a small bag of groceries, Kaiba’s gloved hands tucked into the pockets of his coat, and the silence is comfortable. It’s a rarity for them, so of course the moment is something Kaiba catalogues and files away. He could title it tranquil.

He _could_ , but Jounouchi just has to ruin it by making a particularly energetic bound forward followed by an abrupt turn to face Kaiba. He's walking backwards now, and Kaiba shoots him a glare in response.

"Don't give me that look, asshole," Jounouchi laughs with a bit of a bark. Kaiba is absolutely giving him that look, all quirked eyebrow and sharp frown, and he tries not to let it soften when he sees Jounouchi's cheeks flushed bright with the cold. "I'll be careful. I just wanted to ask you somethin'."

"Were you not capable of doing so while walking normally?" Kaiba remarks with some resignation, his eyes not on Jounouchi now but the path behind him, scanning for anything he might trip on or run into. _Someone_ has to be tasked with watching out for him, since he so rarely takes on the responsibility himself.

"I mean, sure I was, but god forbid I want to see my boyfriend's face while I’m talkin’ to him," Jounouchi teases, that same laughter still threaded through his words. Kaiba is blatantly avoiding his gaze now, but he's certain Jounouchi is grinning. "I just never got the chance to ask, and I know you're probably gonna want to give me some smartass bullshit, but I want a real answer.” Jounouchi pauses for a beat too long, then continues with a shade of uncharacteristic reluctantance in his voice, as though he’s suddenly realized he’s not sure if he does want a real answer. “It’s a new year now, which means we gotta do some reminiscing," he insists, seemingly despite himself. "So, give up the details. How do you feel about last year? Was it good?"

Robbed of his diversion tactics, Kaiba falls thoughtfully silent, the only sound between them the crunch of snow under their shoes. How does he feel about it? He really doesn’t pay much mind to the passage of time. Typically his only year-end concerns involve calculating numbers and formulating data to present evidence of Kaiba Corp's overwhelming growth and performance, which had been especially compelling last year, but he knows that isn't what Jounouchi is asking about. Numbers and data are never what Jounouchi is asking about, even though Kaiba tends to speak in them as though they’re languages unto themselves. It’s easier, that way.

Left wandering, Kaiba's thoughts immediately latch on to one memory in particular: how Jounouchi had kissed him first. How he himself had spent months fixating on what he was feeling and who he was feeling it for, resolving never to act upon it in the same breath as he longed to know how Jounouchi's hair would feel beneath his fingers, and Jounouchi, ever the most skilled in catching him off guard, still kissed him first. How it was clumsy but sweet and he froze instinctively and Jounouchi took it the wrong way, apologized with his bleeding heart in his shaking fists. How Kaiba watched him, calculated him, this creature of immeasurable love he wanted so achingly, who wanted him back. How Kaiba kissed him second, but properly. Jounouchi had laughed light and thrilled against him then, and Kaiba had finally gotten to find out what his hair felt like. Softer than he’d expected, just like Jounouchi himself.

From that memory a thin red thread connects so many others, spreading out like a web, points misplaced in time. The first night Jounouchi had slept in his bed with him and the way Kaiba hadn't known how to quiet or still or relax until he felt Jounouchi's weight against him. The first morning Jounouchi had made them breakfast and nearly set the manor on fire. The first of many arguments they'd had, Kaiba stubborn and biting, Jounouchi all fight and ferocity, and how Jounouchi felt like it was pulling teeth to get Kaiba to actually talk about it later. The first time they'd _talked about it_ , through clenched jaws and voices hoarse from misuse: what it was that made them this way, and how similar they were. The first time Kaiba realized Jounouchi understood, and moreover, that may not be something to be afraid of. The first time he stumbled upon the thought that though he wanted for countless things, none of them could ever compare to the monstrous and selfish want for Jounouchi to stay by his side.

The little moments since, an unspoken binding. No grandiose confessions of love, no discussions about if they were together or where they were headed; just Jounouchi's hand in his, Jounouchi's clothes on his floor, Jounouchi staying over more and more frequently, Jounouchi no longer asking to kiss him but rather just doing so. Kaiba needing him, always needing him. Recklessly, impulsively, against his better judgment, all the time. Taking measure of every moment as if it would be the last.

Jounouchi kissing him last night and making him feel as if it was the first time all over again, like he was an open wound and Jounouchi was always meant to be the bandage.

Kaiba wanting every year to end and begin that way.

That's what Jounouchi is asking about.

Kaiba pulls himself out of his reverie as Jounouchi leads them up the stairs up to the manor’s front door. Jounouchi is still watching him, waiting for his answer and bordering on impatience; he can feel it. Kaiba's gaze remains steady on the path and the stairs and the snow, but his chest constricts so tightly he feels as though he can’t breathe. It’s so much more simple to think the answer than to say it, but he owes Jounouchi this, doesn’t he?

"I suppose," he begins slowly, his voice level but so sudden Jounouchi's heel nearly catches on a stair and sends him tumbling. Kaiba's eyes dart up in concern, then away again. He flexes his fingers. Honesty weighs heavy and honeyed on his tongue. "In some ways, it was the best year of my life."

They reach the landing, and all at once Jounouchi's back hits the door and his free hand presses against Kaiba's chest, forcing him to stop. Kaiba glances down at it, then up at him. Jounouchi is suspended in a look of shock, his hair tousled wild, his eyes a bit wide, his lips parted, and the way he’s looking at Kaiba -- like a fireworks show or an undiscovered wonder of the world -- makes him feel so vividly exposed. Then, Jounouchi's expression falls into something almost painfully tender: so genuine, so artful, and all for Kaiba. Snowflakes cling to Jounouchi’s eyelashes and Kaiba thinks, not for the first time, that if any god is real Jounouchi was its first and only creation. Its most beautiful swan song.

He notices that while Jounouchi is smiling, he also appears as though he's about to cry.

"Goddamnit, you're never fair,” Jounouchi breathes, his voice lost somewhere between awe and ache. His fingers find a grip in Kaiba's scarf, pull him in closer, just enough for his sighed exhale to ghost against Kaiba's lips and send a spark of electricity racing up his spine. "How do you still keep surprisin' me like that?"

Kaiba regards him with a lost and uncomprehending look, but Jounouchi shakes his head, his smile widening. “Nevermind. If that's how you feel, then here’s to another best year of _our_ lives, yeah?”

Not terribly long ago, Kaiba might have thought he didn't deserve the last year, a month, a week, a day, let alone this year. He might have even said as much. When Jounouchi kisses him vibrant and breathless, though, all he can think as his eyes helplessly slip closed is: _This year. The next. Every year for the rest of my life, so long as you will have me._

"Happy New Year, Seto," Jounouchi murmurs against his mouth, clumsy sweet, and this time when Kaiba freezes for an entirely different reason there are no apologies. Just the two of them, here in falling snow that will forget them soon. The cold and the gentle stillness and the hum of a perfect melody between their bodies and the way Kaiba thinks he's never felt like this before, and never will again.

Jounouchi always makes it feel like the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yes... About me vanishing for a whole year. I'm sorry about that. 2017 was, to put it lightly, a terrible year for me. As such, it took me an incredibly long time not only to feel comfortable writing again, but to find the motivation to do so. When I finally did, I actually ended up spilling out a lengthy first draft for my first novel, and since then I've been working on revising and editing that first draft into a second. That part is exciting! Point is, though, I've either been struggling or busy (or both) since you last heard from me. However, these two have never been far from my mind. I love them to death, and I've wanted to come back writing them for quite some time, so I'm incredibly happy to be here right now -- especially so close to my three year anniversary of posting! This fic was honestly a bit of vent writing on my part in a way, but I'm grateful for that outlet.
> 
> Since I'm still in the early stages of revision and I can't guarantee I'll be posting new works consistently, for now I'm still considering myself on hiatus, but just know that I'm here. Older readers, I want to thank you so much for being so patient and staying with me. Newer readers, I want to thank you so much for your readership. I'm certainly not the most dependable writer, but getting new kudos, comments, etc has been such a comfort to me, sometimes on days I really needed it. So, truly, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Hopefully 2018 treats us well and, like Jounouchi and Kaiba, we can all celebrate a wonderful year. I love you guys. ♡


End file.
